• The Fund is Zionist, and believes in the establishment and continuation of the Jewish state in its present, historic location.
• The Fund works for political and economic equality for Israel’s traditionally less empowered populations: women, immigrants, Arabs, Bedouin, and Druze. Much of Israel’s international, political, and diplomatic strength comes from its position as the Middle East’s only free and democratic society. The New Israel Fund’s work helps to ensure that continues.
• The Fund supports organizations I know, believe in, and have worked with in a brief stint doing fundraising during college.

The war and recent battles between Israel and Hezbollah further demonstrate that modern wars cannot be won against weaker states or non-state actors. Military victory becomes political defeat, and anything less than total military victory becomes an implicit victory for the defeated. Israel could have learned that from American experience in Iraq. The only way Israel will win is to continue to be the only country in the Middle East where Arab citizens can vote freely, pursue economic interests freely, and criticize the government freely and without fear of persecution or violence. I hope that my support of the Fund will help to strengthen Israel for these continuing victories.

In their words: “NEW ISRAEL FUND works to strengthen Israel’s democracy and to promote justice and equality for all Israel’s citizens. The leading funder of social change in Israel, NIF supports grassroots organizations working to safeguard civil and human rights, bridge social and economic gaps, and foster tolerance and religious pluralism.”

The plaza outside of Jerusalem city hall becomes a day camp in the summer.

Bridge leading to Israel’s Supreme Court building.

Inside the Supreme Court building. We could walk right in and sit in on a case.

From the Valley of the Communities at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national holocaust memorial. The Valley lists each of the names of the thousands of Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust. Montova is the town we’d be visiting in Italy.

Jachnun, a Yemenite sabbath bread that cooks overnight on a blech or in a very low oven.

From a shop in the Jerusalem Old City: “I was drafted to serve in the reserves of the army. For assistance, please go to the gallery next door.”

Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall, on Tisha B’Av.

Inside of the Bullet Factory at the Ayalon Institute.

Israel is full of stray cats.

Officials in US President George W. Bush’s administration turned down a 2003 Iranian offer to begin talks with the US, recognize Israel, and end support of Palestinian terror organizations, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Of course, this was under Iran’s former reformist president. And the talks may not have gotten anywhere. But I’m surprised the administration let go of an opportunity to show that invading Iraq and Afghanistan worked. “Invading one of the Axis of Evil forces other to the negotiating table.” Great headlines. Unfortunately, all we did was undermine the reformists. Bummer.

US rejected Iranian overtures in 2003 | Jerusalem Post

We saw lots of cool animals: large Eland and diminutive Bontebok, rock dassies (tiny relative of the African elephant), baboons, and penguins. Boulders penguin colony is crawling with the things and they’re used to humans. You’ll see in the shots below that they were comfortable with us barely two feet away.

I just got back from a week long business trip in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s a beautiful city, reminds me much of any US coastal city, but crime is a real problem. In any given year, one in 65 Capetonians will have something stolen from their car, one ins 239 will have their car stolen, and one in 4067 will be carjacked (cf. Crime in South Africa’s Metropolitan Areas, 2001, compiled by Mark Isserow). Compared to the rest of South Africa, a car is considerably more likely to be broken in to, but less likely to be stolen or carjacked. In fact, Cape Town is considered relatively safe with regards to violent crime. Even so, as in the US, it is the perception of crime that effects people’s behavior. (Anyone interested in South Africa and crime should peruse Institute for Security Studies’ SA Crime Quarterly.)

Due to this high crime rate, car guards are ubiquitous at every public parking place. In Cape Town, at least, most wear reflective bibs to for a veneer of professionalism. And, in most cases, the transaction seems extremely professional. They’ll guide you to a parking space (stopping traffic if necessary) and assure you that they’ll take good care of your car. No money is expected until you return. The expectation is that when you do return and see that your car hasn’t been burgled or vandalized you’ll tip them: 3-6 Rand seems typical, or between 50 cents and a dollar US.

I didn’t realize, until returning to the States, that most car guards or refugees from Congo, Zimbabwe, or another country in southern Africa. It’s likely that a car guard has completed secondary school and many attended college. They’ve found an entrepreneurial way to take advantage of their situation and the most abundant local resources: high crime rates and government failure.

This past January 3, 2006, American Public Media’s Marketplace aired a Youth Radio piece on car guards.

Finally, there are programs like Kiva.org, which I have already blogged about, that allow you to directly support entrepreneurs with microloans.

Kiva works by partnering with private development NGOs to identify and screen individuals who could utilize small amounts of money ($25 – $500 dollars) to start or substantially expand their own small businesses. Kiva then provides a framework to allow anyone with a PayPal account to select one of these entrepreneurs and give some or all of the funds requested. The entire donated amount is given to the requester (Kiva supports itself through separate donations) and each entrepreneur agrees to pay back the full loan amount, interest free, in six to twelve months. Though it hasn’t happened yet, a defaulted loan becomes a tax-deductible contribution.

Do you have an extra $25 you could lend to someone in need? Can you afford to right off your $1000 tax refund? Consider socking your hard earned money away in Kiva and letting it do some good.

(via Treehugger and The Kiva Chronicles)

Crime and violence are everyday happenings in Cambodia.
The Cambodian media thrives on it. But is it just everyday violence or something deeper?

Crime in Cambodia | MetaFilter